"So Kate, I was wonder if you can help me with something?"

Katie pulls her gaze away from her devastatingly handsome, green eyed best friend who just closed his own locker across the hallway, leaving to go to class with a smile and a nod in her direction. Instead she turns back to look at the redhead girl standing just on the other side of her open locker with a sigh.

"Don't tell me you need my English notecards again, Sarah."

The other girl giggles as her cheeks redden just a tad.  She flips her hair over her shoulder and leans her back against the adjacent locker, turning her head sideways so that she can still look at Katie before she continues.

"Well I wasn't going to ask for those, but if you're offering up any insight on that weird book I'll take it."

Katie mumbles back a soft there is nothing weird about Shakespeare as she closes her locker and finally turns to look fully at her somewhat friend, but mostly classmate.

Sarah just rolls her eyes as the two girls start to head down the hallway to their joint study hall.

"Chickie, everything is weird with those stupid plays.  I mean who talks like that anyway??  But what I really wanted was, um can you like, well...."

They finally enter the room and slip into seats at their usual table.  Katie is barely paying attention to the girl's prattling as she sifts through her English folder for her notecards and passes them across the table.

"Sarah just spit it out.  I actually have work to do this period, whoever said that senior year was supposed to be a breeze apparently wasn't taking three AP classes."

Pale blue eyes meet brown ones as the redhead across the table from her starts nervously twirling her hair around one of her long fingers.

"Well, um, since you're like super close and stuff, I was wondering if you knew if, like, Grant was single and stuff."

Sarah's rambling, disjointed question finally has Katie looking up from the books she had spread on the table in front of her.  She cocks her head to the side, furrowing her brow and tries to understand.

"Grant?  Who's Grant?"

Katie could honestly be an alien from a distant planet, that would really be the only way to explain the look of utter confusion and awe Sarah is giving her now.

"Really Girl? You're, like, always with him. He's tall. Sex on a stick, sings and dances like an absolute dream."

Katie just looks at her, still slightly confused so Sarah continues with her description, waving her hands about as she does.

"Come on, are you for real?!  Okay I'll play your game Kate.  Green eyed Adonis of a boy.  Goes to our school and you've apparently been friends with him, for like, forever.  And, oh yeah, you had that rather extensive makeout session with him after failing at that game of suck-n-blow at Mike Walker's party back in sophomore year...."

Katie wracks her memory, thinking back to that party two years ago.  She dragged Tommy along even though Mike invited her because she was unsure about going alone.  Good thing she did, because Mike ignored her presence all night.

Tommy's older brother Tyler was there too and started that darn game. Roping her and Tommy into it.  And then laughing so loudly when they....

Wait a minute.

"Do you mean Tommy??  Tommy Gustin??"

Sarah scrunches up her nose.  "I thought his name was Grant."

Katie laughs lightly as she sets her elbow on the table, resting her cheek on her hand as she looks across at Sarah.  Her voice is soft, somewhat dreamy.

"His name is Thomas.  Thomas Grant Gustin."

Sarah hums in acceptance of this new found information.

"Thomas......  Its an okay name I think I like Grant better though."

Katie's eyes refocus as she blinks and looks at the girl sitting across from her again.  She starts tapping her pen against her open notebook, wishing she could progress this conversation along some.  She really does have work to do.

"I wouldn't let him hear you calling him by his first name.  I'm the only one who can still get away with calling him Tommy, been doing it since we were like really young.  But anyway what did you want to know about him?"

Sarah narrows her eyes slightly at Katie, as if she is trying to get a read on the girl. Then she starts again slowly, warily with her question.

"So Grant, is he available?  Like not dating anyone.  Do you think he'd like me??"

Katie's heart starts to beat faster as she takes in Sarah's inquiries.  Sarah wants to date Tommy.

Her Tommy.

Katie sighs, avoiding direct eye contact as she murmurs back her defeatist reply.

"As far as I know he is single."